Back To School For Grown-Ups

September brings its signature crisp air to our playground as the heat-induced haze in our minds dissipates. We are re-energized and ready for action. Fashion Week is like going ‘back to school’ for grown ups. Its hoopla marks the start of the season for New Yorkers. With the toss of a feather boa, the parade of holidays and related madness is set upon us, bringing with it as much drama as a Colombian tele-novella.

As kids, September meant seeing what clothes no longer fit after summer growth spurts. We got new sneakers, pencils and a notebook – now it’s black stilettos, a fresh tube of mascara and the latest phone. Labor Day weekend, the last weekend for wearing white (except for winter white) marks the end of summer. Sun dresses and sandals get put away. Furs come back from cold storage summer camp. We edit our closets and make a list of what’s needed while tossing what must go. Closet space is prime real estate in the city. Linen trousers get moved to the back while sweaters and leather jackets come to the forefront.

Looking at our itinerary, we plan our outfits down to the accessories. Photographed, notated and ready to go! Yes, us style mavens are a little OCD – but it’s all about being ready … for Fashion Week, school or work. Organizing one’s closet is an exercise that translates into being ready for life and how people perceive us. It’s an exercise in prioritization. What stays? What goes? If it’s no longer working, out-grown or worn to death, it’s time to let it go. Prioritizing and order are proven strategies for getting good grades and handling the autumn rush. If we look and feel our best while staying focused, we become unstoppable – if we are willing to do our homework! It’s not only our clothes, it’s streamlining our desks and being on point, so there’s nothing gnawing at us in the middle of the night. Having the mental and physical fortitude to seize each day by the balls is the way to an ‘A!’

Summer makes us lighthearted and a little reflective (it’s always when we’re daydreaming in the sun that we start re-evaluating what’s important in life). I wish we could take a little bit of the ease of summer into the cold and dark. Keeping perspective enables us to stay focused on the conclusions we came to while lying on the beach, as we get sucked into the vortex of madness that starts with Fashion Week.

Runways, are a showcase for an industry that creates fantasy. It’s very easy to get caught up in who’s wearing who, what’s hot and what’s not. Easy to feel inadequate if we don’t look like the baby giraffes teetering down the catwalk. Hold tight to child-like imagination; it has transformative magic. Fashion is the visual art of self-expression through textiles and accessories. Real style is the ability to mix our couture treasures with our bargain finds while accentuating our assets, creating a three-dimensional image and mood. Everybody gets something and nobody gets it all. A person’s ability to put oneself together is power! Every day we have the opportunity to make any street we’re on our own personal runway. We might not be the tallest, slimmest, smartest or most beautiful, but we CAN be the most put together. Fabulousness is a choice!

Barely legal chicklets with clipboards on power trips decree who’s “on the list.” Where one sits at a runway show is just like the school cafeteria, cool kids in the front! We’ll have more fun with the frenzy of Fashion Week, all that follows, and productivity beyond our dreams with a bit of friendly civility and an openness to consider ‘yes’ instead of automatically saying ‘no.’ The best part of fall is that it holds fresh possibilities: new clients, popularity, promotion, a win for the team, a date for Saturday night! Here’s hoping this fall we all, as Daft Punk sings, “Get Lucky.”